News in brief

Woman who gave birth on plane 'left baby in toilet'

A woman who secretly gave birth on a flight from Samoa to New Zealand may face charges, police said, as they investigated reports she abandoned the newborn in a bin in the plane's toilet. The 30-year-old woman, believed to be a Samoan national, got off the aircraft at Auckland International airport on Thursday without flight attendants knowing that she had given birth. Immigration officials are investigating how she boarded the plane at such a late stage of pregnancy. The airline, Pacific Blue, said "mother and child are reunited, are well and are now being looked after in hospital".
AP Wellington

Pellets fired at parents outside nursery school

A pellet gun was fired at people near a nursery school in Lyon yesterday, slightly injuring 11 adults but no children, the public prosecutor said. Police surrounded the school but prosecutor Xavier Richaud said initial attempts to locate the shooter or find out where the 4.5mm shots originated proved fruitless. The shooting 30 metres from the Harmony nursery school took place as parents were collecting their children before lunch break. Some mothers were "very lightly injured on their arms and legs", Richaud said. A police officer from an emergency response team was also hit in the leg.
AP Lyon

Security firm contractor sued over alleged murder

The family of a slain Iraqi security guard have filed a federal lawsuit against a former Blackwater Worldwide contractor they say killed the man. Relatives of Raheem Khalaf Sa'adoon also accuse Blackwater of destroying documents to cover up the death and reneging on promises to compensate the man's wife and two children. The lawsuit accuses former Blackwater guard Andrew Moonen of shooting Sa'adoon in December 2006 while Moonen was intoxicated after a party. Sa'adoon was on guard duty for Iraqi vice-president Adel Abdul Mahdi. Blackwater changed its name to Xe in February.
Associated Press